relation between rheumatoid arthritis and hearing disorders

introduction: some of the studies have shown that ra (rheumatoid arthritis) may cause hearing disorders. these disorders can result in problems later in life, so survey of correlation between rheumatoid arthritis and hearing disorders is important . methods: this was a case-control study which has done from december 2004 to august 2006 at shaheed sadoughi hospital in yazd. in this study, 50 rheumatoid arthritis patients as case group (100 ears) with 50 persons as control group who were of the same age, sex and job (100 ears) were compared. results: patients were 21-67 years old and the mean age was 47.58 years(it was the same as the control group).from 50 cases (controls) 42 were women and 8 were men . audiometric tests in different frequencies showed that hearing loss in high frequencies, especially in 8000 hz was significantly different in the two groups. also, acoustic reflex was absent in case group and this too was significantly different.the evaluation of sensory neural hearing loss showed that this hearing loss was sensory, not neural . conclusion: in rheumatoid arthritis, middle and inner ear disorders have been shown. but some patients aren't aware of their hearing loss and they have no clinical complains, so frequent evaluation of audiometric tests is recommended. hearing disorders can be controlled by therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures in these patients.